Hospice in the Weald 10k, Tunbridge Wells

A few of the club members did the Hospice In The Weald run on Sunday - somewhat hilly 10K, writes Andrew Mead. There were 6 SAC runners in the top 30 and although pretty competitive at the front (winning time just over 35 minutes), there was also a real friends and family atmosphere with over 570 finishing and Dame Kelly Holmes at the start and finish. I ran in memory of my late wife and either the additional emotional energy or the fact that I had no idea how fast I was going (as my Garmin watch lost its GPS signal half way around) led me to do my fastest 10K time in several years. However, of special note perhaps is Daniel Witt and John Stevens who ran the race and then ran home from Tunbridge Wells to Sevenoaks - all as part of their prep for the Athens marathon in November.

The SAC runners were:

7    307    Andrew Mead    00:40:06
13    570    Daniel Witt    00:41:07
15    219    Nick Humphrey-Taylor    00:41:44
16    564    John Stevens    00:41:48
19    548    Chris Desmond    00:42:21
21    569    Anthony Waldon    00:43:11
154    449    Lionel Stielow    00:52:15

The full results are here.

High Weald Half Marathon and 50k

Matthew Walker was sixth in 1:39:34 in the half marathon a little way ahead of Lesley and Jim Knight, 171st and 172nd in 3:20:00. Claiir Thornton and Mike Allen completed the 50k ultra in 69th and 70th in 7:02:55.

The results are here.

Highway 10k

And at the Highway 10k near Orpington, new member John Witton was seventh, Heather Fitzmaurice was 4th woman and first W45, and 74-year-old Jim Fitzmaurice was also in the field, albeit in a rather challenging category!

7      126    John    Witton              M    M Senior        6 M  1-39    40:32
32    133    heather    fitzmaurice      F    F 45 to 54     1 F 45-54    48:26
83    134    james    fitzmaurice        M    M 50 to 59   13 M 50-59   58:03

The full results are here.

Nick Humphrey-Taylor was our only representative at the Kent Coyote Marathon on Sunday 18th September, run over twenty plus laps of the Cyclopark at Gravesend. Nick was 15th overall and 5th M40 with 3:21:25. The results are here.

And some SAC performances from earlier in the month...

Dan Witt writes: "Last Sunday (11/9/16) I was racing again, this time a marathon as sole SAC competitor down in the New Forest.

"Amazingly, considering it's a multi-terrain course, I achieved a PB of 3hrs 12 minutes and in the process managed to attain a London GFA qualifying time for a vet 40 by coming in under 3 and a quarter hours (17th in 3:12:36), assuming MT marathons are eligible!

"Overall there were around 600 finishers in the well organised marathon and 6500 overall including the other events which included a half marathon, 10k and 5k races. All the routes took in some of the most scenic and notable parts of the forest which also includes some forest road sections around Brockenhurst and Sway village."

The results are here.

And Cath Linney was 23rd overall and second woman at the Beckenham Half on 11 September in 95:53 - results here.

Lastly Andrew Milne was 5th overall at the Shoreham Woods 10k on Saturday 3rd September, where Heather Fitzmaurice and Nicki Thompson were 1st and 2nd W40 and Jim Fitzmaurice 3rd M60(!). The SAC results were:

The full results are here.

At the Kent Masters T&F Champs on 10/11 September, SAC's octogenarians dominated their category with prolific competitor Ron Denney contesting nine of the events. Perhaps Ron's best result was his 400m win with a championship best performance of 107.41, but he was also first in the 800m and Discus, and second in the 100m, 200m, 1500m, 5000m, Hammer and Javelin. In the 100m, 200m, 1500m and 5000m, the winner was our own Richard Pitcairn-Knowles, who won all four of his events.

Our only other competitor at the meeting was Paul English who was second in his two events, the M40 100m and shot. The results are here.

Tony Waldron won the September handicap but Grace Manzotti is still leading the series after nine races. The details are here.